Feed mechanism for sewing-machines.



No. 680,664. Patented Aug. I3, 190|. D. NUBLE.

FEED MECHANISM FOB SEWING MACHINES.

(Applicationvled Juy 14, 1900.)

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No. 680,664. Patented Aug.- I3, I90I. D. NGBLE.

FEED MECHANISM FUR SEWING- MACHINES.

(Application med .my 14, moo.)

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UNITED STATESV PATENT OFFICE.

DONALD NOBLE, OF LONDON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO WHEELER & IVILSONMANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

FEED MECHANISM FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 680,664, dated August13, 1901.

Original application led April 4,1900, Serial No. 11,495. Divided andthis application led July 14, 1900. Serial Nd. 23,639. (No model.)

To all whom, if may concern:

Be it known that I, DONALD NOBLE, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, residing at Finsbury, London, England, have invented a certainnew and useful Improvement ,in Feed Mechanisms for Sewing-Machines, ofwhich the following 'is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates especially to feed 1o mechanism forsewing-machines in which the work is moved in a circular path, and thesubject of this case is divided out of my application for patent foreyelet-sewing machines, led April 4, 1900, Serial No. 11,4195,

in accordance with the requirement of the Patent Office.

The invention comprises a circular or other shaped table or plate, withwhich is combined a throat-plate and a driving-gear, the

zo throat-plate remaining stationary, While by means of the driving-gearand motion transmitted thereto from some moving part of the machine thefeed table or plate is given rotary motion., With this feed table orplate z5 is also combined a cloth-clamp, and the table is provided withmeans by which its position may be controlled independently of thegearing, all as I will proceed now more particularly to set forth andfinally to claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating my invention, in the severalfigures of'which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 is afront elevation, partly in section, of parts of the well-known Wheelerdri Wilson sew- 3 5 ing-machine equipped with my improvement.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the cloth-turning table and parts associatedtherewith: Fig. 3 is a section taken in the plane of line 3 3 of Fig. 2,the cloth-clamp being omitted. Figs.

4o 4 and 5 are detail bottom views of two of the members of thecloth-turning table.

The bed-plate ct, overhanging arm b, main shaft c, loop-taker d,needle-operating shaft e, and the pitmen connecting the said two shaftsmay be of the usual Wheeler da Wilson construction. The needle-bar isarranged in vertical bearings in a vibrating gate and has avertically-reciprocating motion imparted to it, all in any usual way.The vibrating mechanism maybe of any approved 5o construction, but ishere shown as of the particular construction set forth in applicationSerial No. 11,495, hereinbefore referred to.

The needle-operating shaft is shown as provided With a peculiar clutchmechanism, which forms part of my Letters Patent dated August 28, 1900,No. 656,853, and comprises the combined fly-wheel and band-wheel f,having a friction-ring g, o f leather, metal, or other suitablematerial, applied thereto. 6o

h is a movable clutch-disk arranged within a recess Within the ily-Wheeland having headed bolts or rods 7l applied thereto, and these bolts orrods extend through the friction-ring and through the clutch-diskj, alsoarranged Within the recess in the iiy-Wheel and having a sleeve 7c,which encircles the shaft e,- and upon which sleeve the fly-wheel turnsfreely, said sleeve being rigidly secured to the shaft e. Springs Z areinterposed be- 7o tween the heads of the bolts or rods and theclutch-disk 7' and normally tend to draw the clutch-disk h into contactwith the frictionring g. Mounted loosely upon a bearing m, projectingfrom the arm of the machine, is a brake-disk n, having a series ofinclines on its left-hand face which cooperate with similar inclines onthe right-hand face of the disk 0,'which is likewise loosely mountedupon the bearing m, and Jthis last mentioned 8o disk o has an arm 29,which is adjustably secured by the screw q to the arm of the machine.Interposed between the brakedisk n and the clutch-disk j is a brake-ringr, seated in a recess in the clutch-disk j. In Fig. 1 this clutchmechanism is shown in the released position, which position is effectedby amovement of the brake-disk n against the heads of the bolts or rodst', which moves them toward the right,and thus 9o releases theclutch-disk h from engagement with the friction-ring g, and subsequentlythe brake-disk n comes into contact with the brake-rin g r, and thusaccomplishes the stopping of the needle-bar shaft. Any other clutchmechanism having this capacity of motion may be substituted for theclutch mechanism described.

Referring now to the subject of this invention and its cognate parts, Iwill proceed .to describe the construction and operation thereof, andfor this purpose will use reference characters similar to those used inthe ease of which this is a division.

4 is a circular feed-disk journaled within the plate 5 immediately abovethe loop-taker. This feed-disk may or may not. be roughened forcooperation with the cloth-clamp. The plate 5 is secured to the bed ofthe machine in any desirable manner, as by screws, one ofthe holes forwhich is shown at 6 in Fig. 2.

7 is a bevel-gear secured concentrically to the under side of thefeed-disk 4 and meshing with a beveled pinion 8, fast on the end of thehorizontal shaft 9. The shaft 9 is suitably journaled within thebed-plate, and tight on the other end thereof is a pinion 10, whichmeshes with a gear-Wheel 11, secured upon a horizontal counter-shaft 12,journaled within the base of the arm b. Upon the outer extremity of thecounter-shaft 12 is secured a pinion 13, which meshes With andis drivenby a large gear-wheel 14, carried by the stopping-disk 15 of thecounting mechanism.

The stopping-disk 15 receives an intermittent rotation through theclutch H, a segment -lever (not shown) connected therewith, eccentric55V on the end of shaft c, and connection 56 between said eccentric andsegment-lever, as shown and described in my Letters Patent dated August2S, 1900, No. 656,852. Thus it will be clear that the circular disk 4receives its feed movements from the intermittent rotary movement of thestopping-disk 15 through an intermediate train of gearing-to Wit, gears7, 8, 10, 11, 13, and 14and shafts 9 and 12.

The feed-disk 4 has a central circular opening 16, Within which extendthe circular throat-plate 17, provided with the usual needle-aperture18, and a spur 19. The bevelgear 7, secured to the under side of thefeeddisk 4, has a central opening 2O to receive the circularthroat-plate.

The throat-plate 17 incloses the bevel-gear 7 and is supported inposition by means of screws 21, (only one shown,) tapped in the underside of the plate 5, Figs. 1 and 3.

22 is a cloth-clamp secured to and supported in position by a circulartable or ring 23, which is journaled around the feed-disk 4 in suchmanner as to be capable of turning or swinging freely around said disk.The contiguous bearing-surfaces of the disk 4 and table 23 are beveled(see Fig. 3) to form an inverted conical bearing, which affords aconvenient manner of securing said table in position.

24 is a washer interposed between the plate 5 and the under edges ofboth the table 23 and disk 4, and said Washer is provided with integralkeys 25, which register with complementary recesses 26, formed in saiddisk, -as clearly as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, so that vsaid Washer willbe carried around by and partake of all the movements of said disk 4.The washer 24 is provided with notches 27,adapted to be engaged by aspring-latch 28, Which projects through a perforation 29 in the table23. When the latch 2S is in engagement with one of the notches 27, theturn-table 23 and feed-disk 4 will be locked together, and saidturn-table and cloth-clamp mounted thereon will be moved positively Withthe feed-disk, so that no slipping between the latter and saidcloth-clamp can occur; but when said latch is disengaged the clamp andturn-table may be moved to any desired position around the feed-disk,thereby enabling the operator to introduce and manipulate the materialto be stitched with greater facility.

30 is a post whose upper end passes through a perforation 31 in theclamp 22, and pivoted to the upper end of said post is a cam-lever 32,by means of which the clamp 22 is closed down against the material.

33 is a Washer interposed between said camlever and cloth-clamp. Thepost 30 is rigid with the turn-table andwill of course be earried aroundby the latter.

In operation the material is to be introduced beneath the cloth-clampand over the spur 19 in such a manner as to abut one edge of thematerial against the cloth-clamp or post 30 and is clamped down, carebeing taken that the material rests against the proper side of the postor clamp, (in advance of said clamp with respect to the direction of thefeed movement,) so that the clamp will tend to push said material aroundshould there vdevelop a tendency for said material to slip, whichcondition isv of course present to a greater degree when the machine isoperated at a very high rate of speed. By placing the material beneaththe cloth-clamp in the position indicated an additional safeguard issecured as against the slipping of the material during the operation ofthe machine, and a proper distribution of the number of stitchesemployed is insured.

The importance of preventing any slipping of the material during thefeed of the latter will be understood When it is borne in mind that apredetermined number of stitches is used and that said stitches must beproperly distributed around theeyelet or the result Would be imperfectWork by reason of -a failure tocomplete the gure being stitched. I donot, however, Wish to be conned to this particular construction ofclamp, since any clamp or presser-foot so constructed as to prevent thematerial from slipping during the feeding thereof would answer therequirements equally Well.

The proportions of the respective gears Which constitute the train ofgearing between the stopping-disk 15 and feed-disk 4 are such that thelatter Will be rotated about two and onetenth revolutions approximatelyduring one complete revolution of said stopping-disk 15, such fractionin excess of the two complete revolutions of said feed-disk representingthe IOO IIO

amount of overlapped stitches or, in other words, stitches in eXcess ofthe number required to exactly complete the stitchediigure. It has beenfound expedient to overlap at least one of the radial overseam-stitchesand one or more of the plain stitches which anchor said radial stitches,and for this reason I have provided for a suiicientmovement of thefeed-disk to obtain such overlapping of the stitches.

When my present invention is used in connection with a combinedreciprocating and vibrating needle, such as shown in the parent caseherein referred to and as illustrated in part in Fig. l of this case,the needle-shifting mechanism may be such as described in said parentcase.

What I claim is- 1. In an eyelet-sewing machine, the combination ofstitch-forming mechanism, means for horizontally vibrating theneedle-bar, a suitably-journaled feed disk, a counting mechanism andstop-motion arranged at the end of the machine opposite the feed-disk, agear-Wheel secured to the under side of said feed-disk, a gear-Wheelcarried by said counting mechanism, and a shaft geared with saidfeed-disk gear and the gear carried by said counting mechanism, wherebymovement is communicated from said counting mechanism to said feed-diskand whereby the number of stitches to be made may be varied inaccordance with the size of the eyelet or thickness of thread employed,substantially as described.

2. In an eyelet-sewing machine, the combination of stitch-formingmechanism, means for vibrating the needle-bar in a horizontal plane, afeed-disk, means for rotating said disk, a turn-.table secured to saiddisk coperating with it to support the cloth and adapted to turn freelyaround it, and a latch by means of which said turn-table and feed-diskare locked together as against independent movement, substantially asset forth.

In an eyelet-sewing machine, the combination of stitch-formingmechanism, means for vibrating the needle-bar in a horizontal plane, afeed-disk, a p late within which said disk is journaled, means forrotating said disk, a turn-table journaled upon said disk andcooperating with it to support the cloth, a cloth-clamp carried by saidturn-table, a notched washer interposed between the 11nder side of saidfeed-disk and the plate Within which said disk is journaled, said Washerbeing fast with said disk as to rotary movement, and a latch carried bysaid turn-table and adapted to engage said notched washer, whereby saidturn-table and feed-disk are locked together, substantially as setforth.

4. In a sewing-machine, the combination of stitch-formingmechanism, afeed-disk, means for rotating said feed-disk, a turn-table secured tosaid disk cooperating with it to sup-y port the cloth and adapted toturn freely4 around it, and a latch by means of which said turn-tableand feed-disk are locked together as against independent movement.

5. In a sewing-machine, the combination of stitch-fortuin g mechanism, afeed-disk; means for rotating said feed-disk, a turn-table jouri naledupon said diskand with it serving to support the cloth, a cloth-clampcarried by said turn-table, and means to lock the turntable and feeddisk against independent movement.

6. In a sewing-machine, the combination of stitch-forming mechanism, afeed-disk, a plate within which said disk is journaled, means forrotating said disk, a turn-table journaled upon said disk and with itserving to support the cloth, a cloth-clamp carried by said turn-table,a notched Washer interposed between the under side of said feed-disk andthe plate Within which said disk is journaled, and a latch carried bysaid turn-table and adapted to engage said notched washer.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 11th day of July,A. D. 1900.

DONALD NOBLE. Vitnesses:

E. I. VAN HORN, C. N. WORTHEN.

